UPDATE March 30, 2022 – El Toro has now been given the green light to reopen at Six Flags Great Adventure.
UPDATE FROM PARK – Kristen Fitzgerald, a spokesperson for Six Flags Great Adventure responded on July 13 to our inquiry regarding when we are likely to see El Toro reopened saying, “The safety of our guests and team members is always our highest priority. The ride is currently closed for a thorough inspection and any necessary modifications. El Toro is one of our signature attractions, and we are working diligently toward reopening the ride this season following testing and a full safety inspection by both internal and external experts.”
On June 29, 2021 an incident occured on the popular wooden coaster El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure. Initial posts on social media that it had derailed were quickly quashed by park spokesperson Kristen Fitzgerald, saying that it was “not a derailment,” that no one was hurt, and that safety measures in place had worked properly.
A full safety inspection has been launched to ascertain the cause of this incident. The latest news regarding this from nj.com outlines the findings in the Department of Community Affairs incident report.
It has been confirmed that at 4:23pm while El Toro was in motion, the rear wheels of “Car A6 came out of their normal position on the rails” Although details are sketchy of when exactly the wheels came out of position it is assumed they were like this for majority of the ride. It has been said that the rear wheel assembly as well as steel and wood bolts were damaged by one of the vehicle’s axles.
The exact reason for why the rear wheels came out of their normal position on Car A6 has still not been fully identified. A detailed track gauge and track steel inspection is ongoing. One guest who was apparently on the ride when the incident occurred said they smelled burning right before it happened. The incident was videoed by a guest and uploaded to YouTube which is embedded below:
This is bad news for Six Flags Great Adventure as El Toro is likely to be closed for some time whilst this detailed inspection is being carried out. This incident came only a couple of weeks after an incident on June 13 at Six Flags Great Adventure on its Saw Mill Log Flume.
We are also waiting to hear news that The Jersey Devil Coaster is open again after manufacturer RMC paused operation on two of their second generation single-rail coasters for a full inspection. We are hoping this is going to be very soon as Stunt Pilot at Silver wood also had to be closed for a full inspection and was shuttered Friday and Saturday but reopened to guests on Sunday.
We will keep you posted on updates at Six Flags Great Adventure on our News and Facebook pages. Let us know if you were there at the time of the El Toro incident by leaving us a comment below or on our Facebook Page.
